Hamilton College ended up splitting the first two games of its NESCAC West Division series against the Wesleyan University Cardinals at a wet and chilly Loop Road Athletic Complex late Saturday afternoon.
 
The Continentals (13-11, 5-2 NESCAC West) scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and came from behind for a 5-4 win in the seven-inning contest. Wesleyan scored all of its runs in the first.
 
The Cardinals (14-10, 5-3) held on for a 13-10 victory in the completion of a game that was suspended after eight innings on Friday due to darkness. The teams quickly played a scoreless ninth inning before the seven-inning contest started.
 
Saturday's game
 
Phil Bernstein '23 led the Hamilton offense with a career-high four hits, including his ninth double this season, and stole three bases. Jackson Sattinger '24 was hit by a pitch twice.
 
Jack Eshleman '25 (2-2) picked up the win on the mound after he allowed two earned runs on five hits and three walks with five strikeouts in five innings. The outing was Eshleman's longest this season. Brendan Kastner '23 got the next four outs and Sattinger retired the last two batters on a strikeout and a ground ball to the shortstop. Sattinger earned his second save in his last two appearances.
 
The Continentals did all their damage in the fifth with two outs after they left five runners on during the first four innings. Bernstein laced a one-out double to left field and stole third. Brady Slinger '22 drew a two-out walk and Sattinger was plunked to load the bases. Ethan Harrast '23 forced in the first run with another walk and Slinger made it 4-2 when he scampered home on a wild pitch.
 
Gavin Schaefer-Hood '22 drove in two runs with a single through the right side that avoided the diving second baseman. Schaefer-Hood, who had advanced to second on the throw, took third on a passed ball and scored the game-winning run on another base hit through the right side by pinch-hitter Greg Kopp '25. A two-out double in the sixth is the only base runner Wesleyan could muster in the last two innings.
 
Friday's suspended game
 
The Cardinals scored nine runs in the third inning and led 13-1 in the middle of the fourth, but had to hold off a furious Hamilton rally in the late innings. Adam Geibel led Wesleyan with four hits including a double and drove in three runs.
 
Adam Wijaya '22 and Slinger paced the Continentals with three hits apiece and Slinger stole four bases. Wijaya, Slinger, Matt Kinne '25 and Shane Dux '24 smacked doubles, and Eshleman walked four times. Henry Boehm '25, Ed Connolly '23 and Jack Clougherty '23 combined to pitch five shutout innings in relief.
 
Slinger drove in Hamilton's first run with a sacrifice fly in the third inning. Jackson Johns '24 and Charlie O'Brien '24 added sacrifice flies that made it 13-3 in the fourth inning. The Continentals sent 13 batters to the plate in a seven-run sixth, but only had three hits. The inning was helped by three walks, three hit batsmen and an error. The highlights were an RBI single by Bernstein, followed by a two-run double by Wijaya and another two-base hit by Slinger that scored Wijaya. Hamilton managed just two base runners in the last three innings.